School-smart and Mother-wise

<p><em>School-smart and Mother-wise</em> illustrates how and why American education disadvantages working-class women when they are children and adults. In it we hear working-class women--black and white rural and urban southern and northern--recount their childhood experiences describing the circumstances that led them to drop out of school. Now enrolled in adult education programs they seek more than a diploma: respect recognition and a public identity. Drawing upon the life stories of these women Wendy Luttrell sensitively describes and analyzes the politics and psychodynamics that shape working-class life schooling and identity. She examines the paradox of women's education particularly the relationship between schooling and mothering and offers practical suggestions for school reform.</p>